At the Ring of Honor taping in Jacksonville, Florida’s WJCT Studios last night (Sept. 8), AEW president Tony Khan led a ten-bell salute for Andy Williams, who died last Saturday night in Western Pennsylvania while wrestling for a Pittsburgh-based independent promotion. Williams wrestled for ROH and AEW as The Butcher from 2019 until earlier this year.
AEW hasn’t officially announced anything for tonight’s Dynamite, which was already announced as a special episode in honor of Rebel, who has been fundraising for ALS since being diagnosed with it a few months ago. Rising AEW star Kevin Knight did say that the roster is planning to honor Williams in their hearts on Wednesday night. In an interview with Atlanta’s NBC affiliate promoting the “Rebel Heart” Dynamite in Athens, Georgia, Knight said:
“You know, I never got to meet Andy Williams. He was there before I got to AEW, but from what all the stories that I’ve heard, everything that I’ve seen on social media, he was a lovely guy. Nobody had anything ever negative to say about him, and man, he was just such a creative and inspiring person from what I could sense, and I really wish I could have met and connected with him, but again, we have two people on our minds going into tomorrow’s show, and it’s going to make it that much more special, so… It’ll be a good one.”
It would also be pretty surprising if we don’t see the same memorial graphic on Dynamite, but we’ll see how they celebrate both Williams and Rebel. We know that Williams’ family and friends in his hometown of Buffalo, New York will be putting on an event Sun. Sept. 27.
You can reserve a free ticket to that andywilliamsforever.com.
